The Show Within The Show--With Jim Riggleman

"This will give me a chance to talk about the games and, maybe, why I manage certain situations and why 'So & So' is not playing today," stated Our Manager Jim Riggleman. "Just keeping the fans informed about what is going on is important and this is generally something that most ball clubs do.”

Beginning with the first regular season game of the 2010 Season, Our Washington Nationals Flagship Radio Station--WFED--will air The Jim Riggleman Show. This five minute interview segment will air within the normal pre-game show before every Nationals Baseball Broadcast and hosted by Team Broadcasters Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler on a rotating basis. A new show--within the show. A feature not regularly heard since baseball returned to Washington in 2005.

"I was approached a couple of times during the course of last year by Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler," continued Riggleman. "And then Burton Rocks (Jim’s Agent) mentioned it to me. I did this with The Cubs. I did this with The Padres--it's pretty routine really. Most clubs do a pre-game show with the radio people and I am pleased to be involved here with one."

Charlie Slowes couldn't agree more: "What a bonus for our Nationals radio audience. We're thrilled to be able to go one-on-one with Jim before every game and get his insight. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time and talked to Jim about during the season and he was definitely interested having done a pre-game manager's show before."

The format for Charlie & Dave's Pre-Game Show in 2010 is tentatively scheduled like this:

Welcome/Open
Commercial Break
General Interview Segment (4 Minutes)
Commercial Break
Jim Riggleman Interview (5 Minutes)
Commercial Break
Pitching Matchup (2 Minutes)
Times are approximate and segments could change

Burton Rocks--Jim Riggleman's Agent: "Jim said, ‘fans need to have an identity to the team and they don’t get to come over and ask many questions personally.’ So this way, The Manager’s Show will allow Jim to feel like he is talking to them every day. He wanted to make this happen. He wanted to let the fans know there was going to be a manager in place here where there was not going to be a disconnect between the manager and the fans.”

Riggleman also believes the new daily pre-game radio interview will give him a better opportunity to explain his managerial decisions--those not fully divulged by the media.

Jim Riggleman: "Most of these shows are fairly uncontroversial when it comes to game strategy, but every now and then you do see something that was questioned in the paper and maybe you’ve given an explanation to the writer, but the writer only has so much space he can use for an article. And you just kind of think—‘hey, that’s not what I said'. So (this show) will give me the chance to say things in my own words to re-address a game situation that came up a day or two before--that you can clarify for the fans. I can point to a couple of things last year where that was definitely the case where what was said and what was written just didn’t come out. It wasn’t done maliciously, things just got turned around. So with this show, the radio host will ask ‘is there anything in particular you want to talk about today?’ and you might say ‘you know what, that situation we talked about after the game yesterday, I think I would like to clarify that. That might only take a minute, and then move on to the next question.”

Coming in 2010--Premiering on Opening Day, April 5th, when The Two-Time Defending National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies visit Nationals Park--The Jim Riggleman Show on WFED during the Pre-Game with Charlie Slowes & Dave Jageler.

The Show Within The Show--With Jim Riggleman.